Page 60 of King of My Heart

“Baby.” Her hands palm my cheeks, and her forehead falls onto mine. “I’m not gonna let ’em get away with it.”

Her words shorten, the speed of her speech quickens like she’s a mad woman. “They’re gonna fucking pay.” I don’t think she realizes she’s pushing me back with her head. She’s pressing against me with such force I can barely stop myself from falling backwards.

“I want to know, Rose,” I whisper so quietly I doubt she heard me.

She takes a huge breath, and her exhale blows some hair out of my face.

“Rose,” I say more firmly. “I want to know.”

She squeezes her eyes and shakes her head, like she refuses to hear me, refuses to admit that everything she’s ever kept from me is catching up with her. Withus.

“You have to.” I don’t relent. “You have to tell me about your past now.”

She rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands and shakes her head again. “I can’t,” she pushes through gritted teeth.

“You can.” My voice doesn’t falter as it used to when I tried to pry information from her. I don’t feel the guilt. I don’t feel the fear that she’ll snap and walk away. No, after the humiliation and the fear of death I endured today, she owes me at least the truth.

“You can and you will,” I say with a finality that leaves her no choice.

“Rach…” her voice breaks into a plea. Her hands are tight around my waist like her fingertips from one are trying to reach the others. She’s attempting to suffocate the curiosity out of me, but she won’t this time.

“I almost died today, Rose. I want to know why. You know I had my questions about Sam before…you know…before you disappeared.”

She grunts and pushes away from me.

“You never answered them!” I shout at her. I’ve always been too nice to her, trying to gently coax out her past without forcing her to relive her traumas. It never worked. Rose only functions when there’s violence and shouting involved.

“I told you before!” she snaps back. “I told you we grew up together. His dad knew my old foster dad. What else do you want?”

She paces around the small living room she hasn’t lived in since being kidnapped and Jake left for college. We all thought Stoneview would freeze in time when the White twins left. How I wish it had.

“I want to know who he is. I want to know what he wants with you!”

“He’s a hitman with too much time on his hands. That’s who he fucking is. Don’t play dumb, you understood what he wants.”

“Can you hear yourself?” I scoff. “You talk about a hitman like it’s the most casual thing in the world, and you want to tell me that’s all there is to the story?”

She goes completely silent, rubbing her eyes again and clenching her jaw. She looks away from me to the door, and I can feel her hesitate. After a minute or so, she walks toward it with determination. She opens it and turns to me.

“You should leave.”

I shake my head slowly, disappointed with her but at least not with myself for having the courage to confront her.

I get off the bar, and she looks away from me as I walk toward her.

“If I leave, you will never see me again, Rose.”

She nods at the truth in my voice, but she’s still looking to the side of me, not crossing my gaze. “Good, you should give your marriage a chance.”

Fear and disgust twist in my stomach like a poisonous cocktail.

I let silence fill the room before I say my last words. “You know what the worst thing is?” I pause, waiting for a reaction. Nothing. “I waited for you that day.” There’s a twitch on her face, but she doesn’t reply. “And I hated you for it.”

I shake my head, trying to chase away the memories of the worst day of my life. “I hated you because you always did that. You always disappeared and never told me where you were. All you were capable of were secrets and lies.”

I struggle to swallow everything that wants to come out of my chest—all the love, the passion, and the hate—and I keep to simple words. “I hated you while you were being kidnapped, and I told myself I wouldn’t chase after you. It took me days to understand that something was wrong. It took until Jake’s call. Do you realize what you did to us? The day you disappeared, I decided to move on from you instead of knowing something was wrong.”

Her gaze has gone from the side of my face to the floor, shame flooding her.

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